‘Scotland does not just belong to the Scots: it belongs to anyone who loves the country’
Regardless of whether you are a Remainer, Brexiteer, Unionist or Nationalist, Scotland is an amazing country uniquely placed to attract visitors from home and abroad, writes Jim Mee, founder of Rat Race Adventure Sports
On a recent Thursday I got up at 4.30am, checked in on my young son and daughter snoozing away and then hit the road for a 12-hour journey to the Outer Hebrides. I spent the next three days traversing the entire island chain on foot, bike and by kayak. The 190mile journey took us all the way from the Butt of Lewis to Vatersay and, my God was it an adventure.
My wife may not agree but this was in fact ‘work’: A reconnaissance trip in which we intended to scout an idea for an annual adventure challenge. I spend a lot of time doing this – in Scotland, all over these isles, all over the world. My company, Rat Race Adventure Sports, was founded in Edinburgh in 2004 and is now the largest operator of such challenges in the UK.
We’re based in England but over half of our business takes place in Scotland: we are well and truly a cross-border entity in every sense.
I’m not Scottish. I’m really quite English. I did live in Scotland for a long time. I also know Scotland very well. From Benbecula to the Borders I have travelled the country extensively. In fact, I once seriously upset the Aberdonian manager of a hotel in Mongolia on a Burns Night in Ulaan Baatar by suggesting I might have been to more places in Scotland than he had. But I now reside down south. Rat Race was founded in Scotland, is listed at Companies House in Scotland and over half of our adventure events take place in the country.
Of the folk who take part in our events annually, 20,000 of them do so in Scotland and over 15,000 of those are from outwith Scotland. So I guess in summary, you could say that I am a regular visitor to Scotland; and one who brings a number of other visitors with him. It is from the standpoint of proud visitor and not native Scot, therefore, that I write this piece.
First up, I will say unequivocally that I am not about to forensically analyse Brexit or Indyref. There are folk far more qualified than I to give an opinion and indeed, each to their own.
Clearly, I didn’t vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum, of course, as I didn’t have a vote. It will be no surprise perhaps to speculate as to how I may have voted. However, like the majority of Scots, I did vote against Brexit.
Still, the votes were cast. Whilst it got bitter in both camps in settling both referenda, the process was followed and the process gave us some democratic decisions. Sure, both decisions have led to further angst and some not inconsiderable uncertainty, particularly in respect of Brexit and particularly in Scotland given the close proximity of both votes. These outcomes are now facts.
There is a good reason Rat Race spends so much time operating in Scotland. There’s also a reason we are very good at it and a reason we are so successful at bringing in large visitor numbers.
In respect of the adventures themselves, if you look at the map of the British Isles, the outer edges are pretty jagged and the inner bits are soft, rolling, lumpy in places but overall, not quite as ‘pointy.’ The Celtic fringes – Scotland, Wales, Cornwall: these are the places where Rat Race has innovated its best adventures. Right now, I do believe that the macro post-brexit world opens the doors to capitalise on the huge opportunities to make the most of these fringes; particularly Scotland, which is the stunner in the room.
Why are we so well placed
“Rather than gripe about the consequences of Brexit and the many unresolved issues it raises, we are now very much focused on the many opportunities that leaving the EU may have within the adventure tourism sector”
to bring visitors to Scotland? Perhaps it’s that cross-border thing. As an organisation, we’ve never really been hung up on where we are ‘from.’ We go to the locations that give us the best adventures, plain and simple. Our address has been Edinburgh, London, York. Indeed for a while, we resided in the French Alps. (Nice idea, not much work done). We operate events all over the world, yet we keep coming back to Scotland. We become advocates for the place in which we operate our events as much as the events themselves. In short, we find ourselves loving Scotland and telling everyone how good a place it is. We know it will deliver, every single time.
So what of these post-brexit/ Indyref opportunities? Along with 60 odd million others, I am of course a little nervous about what the future holds once the button is pressed and we cast ourselves a little further into the North Sea from Brussels. But rather than gripe about the consequences of Brexit and the many unresolved issues it raises, we are now very much focused on the many opportunities that leaving the EU may have within the adventure tourism sector. Fundamentally, that means more people looking inwardly and travelling their own islands; and hopefully, more people looking forward to visiting us from afar, too.
For 10 years Rat Race has operated our Scotland Coast to Coast event and taken some 1500 participants annually on a journey across the country. Of that number, most have never been to the Highlands before. These are well-travelled folk, many of whom have taken part in similar events all over the world, who reside predominantly south of the border. Yet they have never ventured this far north in Britain. They pinch themselves at the wonders they find. For Scotland and for these visitors alike, that’s gold.
Discovering what is on your own doorstep is a wonderful thing. It is not new news that ‘staycationing’ is on the rise, and the current weakness of the pound is seeing a new lease of life for inbound visitors too. When folk do then decide to travel to Scotland, what they find is a world-class destination for active and adventure tourism. For many south of the border, this was on their doorstep all the time and they never even knew it.
From our microcosm of a business, it does not look like people from further afield are staying away either. We recently signed a contract with a huge Dutch TV company to produce their own version of one of our Scottish events, to be advertised and broadcast on Dutch TV. I want people to continue to want to come to Scotland. I want to bring them.
Where does Indyref fit into this? I felt a little out of place at times during Indyref; nothing major – a few unpleasantries hurled at me ‘for being English’ but hey, temperatures were running high and I am a big boy. But regardless of the appetite to revisit this question or not, the fact remains that the vote was cast. It’s over, for now at least. Can’t we all move on?
I wish we could, as some team spirit will be required in the months and years to come. I don’t think that needs us all to redefine what it means to be British, Scottish, pro-eu, whatever. Indyref perhaps sent some folk down that path and the spectre of Indyref2 continues to sow those seeds.
In my opinion, Scotland does not just belong to the Scots: it belongs to anyone who loves the country. It’s as much my country as any members of the ’45 who feel as if it perhaps should not be.
There are a lot of other people in these isles who can discover a welcoming, tolerant and majestic Scotland, too. Perhaps we all just need to accept we are not that different to one another and just celebrate the joy of discovering what is on all of our own doorsteps: Scottish, English, Nationalist, Remainer, Brexiteer or otherwise.
If the tourism and active adventure sectors can suck up and spit out the negativity and division surrounding Brexit, Indyref2 and the associated rhetoric, perhaps we can get on with the job of laying bare the raw beauty of the canvas upon which we have to work. Scottish tourism will indeed thrive. And we will all find out a little bit more about this magical land and our neighbours who reside within it. I’d thoroughly recommend the scallops in Barra, by the way.